Olympics are here! Kinda

So the games officially start on Feb12th, Whistler hosted the first day of downhill training for the men. Unlike many other sports, a training run in the downhill is just like a real race. all the volunteers are in place, all the safety features and security are in place, and it is a good eye opener on how things will work during the games. For the official race, on course photo positions are limited to just 80 photographers, so i figured my only chance to get on course would be during training. I called the creekside photo desk to find out about access and was told to be at the base 3 hours before the start and i may get some course access. The race was scheduled for 10:30 am so i made sure i was there by 7am. So my first olympic experience consisted of me getting lost in my hometown. I couldn't find the meeting location. I then called the help desk and was told to head up to the timing flats. As i expected to be on course, i was carrying my skis, boots, camera gear, and laptop bag. So after taking the new chairlift up to the finish area, i finally found the media tent. the guys here were helpful, they gave me a key to a locker to store my gear as well as the coveted course access armband. Unfortunately the lockers were back down at the base in the legends hotel, and as luck would have it, they were not really supposed to give out the armband to me. I headed back down, found the lockers, along with about 100 other photographers all lining up to get their bands as well. I still needed a lift pass as my season pass was not valid on the creekside gondi, so i waited in line with the others. As i got to the front, i was standing beside Paul Morrison, one of the top Whistler photographers shooting for Canada Ski Racing Magazine. He was being told he might not get any access as it was being saved for the highest circulation shooters. I felt a bit guilty as i had my band already, but did not say anything.

Lessons learned: expect long lines and a lot of runaround before you are able to get into position. The photo staff are there to help you, but they may not always know everything. It is going to take twice as long as normal to get anywhere and do anything. And like any ski race, expect long delay due to fog and bad weather. Now on to the photos, they were all shot with my Nikon D2x at 400mm and a 2x crop.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, had the 6th fastest time in a shortened downhill training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event. The session was cancelled after just 42 racers skied the course, on account of poor visibility. This image took a lot of work in photoshop to clean up the fog. here is the original.
Andrew Weibrecht of the USA had the 10th fastest time in a shortened downhill training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event.

Steven Nyman of the USA got a little out of control at the top of the Dave Murray Downhill course in a training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event.